Facial Pain

Facial pain can be very disabling for patients and can interfere with even the simplest of tasks such as eating or even making facial expressions. It can often be very excruciating, causing many patients to not work and feel extremely helpless. Facial pain can be caused from a number of etiologies such as nerve disorder, injury, infection, or inflammation. Sometimes it appears for no known reason at all. Some symptoms associated with facial pain are jaw pain, dental pain, change in vision, eye pain, swelling, tenderness, eye redness, fever, aching pains, and nasal congestion. Determining the underlying cause of the pain is the first step to recovery. Listed below are some common disorders associated with facial pain. At Avosant Surgical Associates, our highly qualified team of pain management specialist can help you determine the specific cause of your pain and develop a treatment plan to get you on the road to recovery.

Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMD)

Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD) refers to a condition that involves pain of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and the muscles around the joint. The TMJ is located on both sides of the head in front of each ear.

This joint allows you to talk, chew , and yawn. For individuals suffering from TMD, problems with the joint and muscles around it may cause limited movement or locking of the jaw, painful clicking, popping, or grating of the jaw, stiff jaw muscles, pain that may travel through the face, jaw and/or neck, headache, earache, and a change in the way the upper and lower teeth fit together. The cause of TMD can be associated with teeth grinding and clenching, habitual gum chewing and nail biting, dental problems, trauma to the jaw, and stress. In order to diagnose TMD properly a complete dental and medical evaluation is necessary. Treatment for TMD can be very minimal and simple or more complex and aggressive. For patients suffering from acute TMD, simple jaw rest,heat and ice therapy, anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin or ibuprofen, and physical therapy tend to relieve symptoms. For more severe TMD, patients may need to undergo intra-articular injection with small amounts of anesthetic and steroid, surgery, corrective dental therapy, and oral orthodontic devices.

Atypical Facial Pain & Trigeminal Neuralgia

Atypical facial pain, also known as atypical facial neuralgia, is a syndrome that encompasses a wide variety of facial pain, all having similar symptoms. Atypical facial pain is described to be aching, burning, and cramping that occurs on one side of the face, often in the region of the trigeminal nerve. Facial pain is constant with a rarity of pain-free remission periods. The majority of patients suffering from atypical facial pain are female. A history of facial trauma, infection, or tumor of the head and neck may provoke atypical facial pain, however, in most cases there are no precipitating factors that can be identified. The diagnosis of atypical facial pain can be very challenging and is often misdiagnosed as dental or sinus problems and trigeminal neuralgia. It is extremely important for individuals thought to be suffering from facial pain to seek the expertise of a qualified pain management physician to receive a proper diagnosis. Treatment for atypical facial pain can be extremely perplexing. The mainstay treatment for atypical facial pain is a combination of drug therapies and physical modalities such as physical therapy and oral orthodontic devices. Some patients may also undergo a trigeminal nerve block and an intra-articular steroid injection of the temporomandibular joint.

Occipital Neuralgia

Occipital neuralgia is a condition characterized by persistent pain at the base of the skull that is piercing and throbbing with occasional shock-like paresthesias that spreads upward. Occipital neuralgia is usually caused by blunt trauma to the greater and lesser occipital nerves. This trauma can be the result of hyperextension of the neck such as in a whiplash injury, trauma to the back of the head, pinching of the nerves by overly tight neck muscles, and hyperextension of the cervical spine. The pain associated with occipital neuralgia mimics that of tension-type headaches, and therefore needs to be ruled out before treatment begins. Testing for occipital neuralgia includes an MRI of the brain and cervical spine and a neural blockade of the greater and lesser occipital nerves. A Patients’ responding positively to neural blockade helps distinguish between occipital neuralgia and tension-type headaches. Treatment for occipital neuralgia consists of massage and rest as well as the use of anti-depressants and a neural blockade of the greater and lesser occipital nerves. At Avosant Surgical Associates, our pain management specialists can help diagnose and treat patients suffering from occipital neuralgia with a unique and specialized multimodal plan for each individual.